Paul dominates as Hornets pound T-Wolves

Chris Paul had 19 points, 15 assists and five steals in only 30 minutes, helping the New Orleans Hornets take a 110-76 victory over the downtrodden Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday night.

Paul had his 14th double-double of the season early in the third quarter, when New Orleans built a 27-point lead and soon after went with a lineup of all reserves to finish it off.

David West scored 22 points for the Hornets (17-10), who've won two straight overall and four in a row in New Orleans, where they improved to 8-5.

Peja Stojakovic returned from a groin pull that had kept him out for three games. He scored 11 points in 26 minutes. Reserve Jannero Pargo scored 13 points and Morris Peterson 10, while Tyson Chandler grabbed 14 rebounds.

Ryan Gomes scored 20 to lead Minnesota (4-22), which won Friday night but still has yet to win two straight this season and has won only once in its last eight games. Al Jefferson and Gerald Green each scored 11 for the Timberwolves. Jefferson also had 13 rebounds.

So little did Minnesota threaten down the stretch that Hornets coach Byron Scott inserted second-year Brazilian forward Marcus Vinicius, who had played only two minutes in all the Hornets' previous 16 games. Vinicius responded with his only two baskets of the season, the second a fast-break dunk.

New Orleans shot 53 percent for the game, scoring 35 fast-break points and 48 points inside.

Looking sloppy and lethargic, Minnesota turned the ball over 21 times, leading to 32 Hornets points.

The Hornets came out running, scoring 15 points on fast breaks in the first quarter alone. Paul scored six of those points by running the length of the court after his own steals. He also had an end-to-end layup after Chandler's block and converted another steal into an assist on Peterson's fast-break layup.

With 16 points inside, New Orleans shot 60.9 percent in the first quarter in taking a 30-20 lead, but might have threatened to run Minnesota out of the building early if not for Gomes, who shot well from outside and scored 12 points in the first seven minutes.

Minnesota hoped for a spark from reserve Antoine Walker, who a night earlier had hit six 3-pointers and scored 23 points in a victory over Indiana. Walker didn't have it early on, though, missing his first five field goals, four from 3-point range.

Minnesota shot only 37 percent during the opening two periods, allowing the Hornets to use a 13-3 run to open a 53-38 lead by halftime.

Notes:@ Minnesota had seven turnovers in the first quarter, which New Orleans converted into 12 points. ... The Hornets had no turnovers in the first half, marking the first time in franchise history they had gone an entire half without one. ... Minnesota guards Marko Jaric and Rashad McCants, who missed Friday's victory over Indiana with the flu, did not make the trip to New Orleans. ... The Hornets' reserves outscored Minnesota's 44-27, marking the first time in eight games that the Hornets' bench hadn't been outscored by its opponents' reserves.